Most Liked Business Blogs (303)

Being one of the most popular social networks globally, Instagram has become a marketing hub. If you haven’t yet started leveraging Instagram for marketing, it’s never too late to hop on board.

The platform constantly brings in new changes and update to make it easier for businesses to reach an audience. Before you dive into influencer marketing or finding the best sites to buy Instagram followers , let’s start with the basics. Here is the ultimate guide to getting started with Instagram marketing for your business.
1. Set Up Your Instagram Business ProfileFirst things first, new users must set up their Instagram profile and complete all necessary details. Once you go to setting and ‘switch to business profile’, you can get started by completing your profile.
This means optimizing your profile by adding the necessary details. Insert a display picture that represents your brand, like a logo. Next, add details like your contact, address, and website. And lastly, don’t forget to add a bio defining your business in a couple of lines.
2. Define Objectives And Target AudienceBefore you start bombarding your profile with random Instagram posts, define your objectives. To make the most out of Instagram in the long run, you must define your goals. This can help you allocate your budget, resources, and time accordingly. Your objective may be to drive sales, showcase a work portfolio or build a loyal fan base, or any other goal. Defining the objectives also helps in determining your target audience which helps in meaningful content creation.
3. Curate A Content CalendarContent lies at the heart of every Instagram marketing strategy. Millions of posts are sent out every day, and your content must stand out to gain traction. Instead of coming up with content spontaneously and irregularly, curate a content calendar. Inculcate a few content pillars and regular posts to stay consistent on social media.
This way, instead of scrambling at the last moment, you can have a clear vision and keep an eye out for opportunities. Make sure that all your content is consistently in sync with your brand persona. It’s also important to pay equal emphasis on the post caption and hashtags.
4. Leverage Paid Instagram AdsBefore you buy Instagram followers or likes to get traction, consider running Instagram ads. Running promotional content is a great way to reach out to your target audience beyond your followers.
Instagram ads offer a range of parameters that can help businesses in generating targeted traffic. Users can also gain a wider reach and increase engagements on Instagram. Users having a big budget can also look for the best sites to buy Instagram followers in order to increase engagement.
5. Explore Instagram InsightsInstagram Analytics provides businesses with detailed insights for performance analysis. Through these insights, businesses can find relevant information like reach, impressions, leads, peak hours, and much more. Tracking performance can help marketers in deciphering what’s working and what’s not working.
This information can help businesses in finding out their weaknesses and strengths. Accordingly, marketers can optimize and improve their marketing and content strategy. Several social media marketing tools help users track engagements, calculate ROI, buy Instagram followers, etc. Insightful tools like Buffer can be used to get deeper insights.
6. Engage With Your AudienceIf you’re starting from scratch, you may have to go the extra mile to convert your followers into fans. This involves interacting with your fans on quite a regular basis. Respond to comments, reply to DM’s, post engaging content, and leverage all Instagram story's interactive features. Another great way to increase engagements without having to buy Instagram followers is by encouraging user-generated content.
7. Do a Competitor AnalysisStudying your competition can help you figure out the ongoing trends in our industry.

I was going to add a comment to my 'arrogant' blog but this story deserves a blog of it's own.

About 6 years ago, I did a job with a client who is the top of the list of a-holes.
He described to the salesman everything he wanted for his new kitchen.
Let's say it was $100,000 and he didn't to pay that much.
He told the salesman his budget was $50,000.

Okay, the salesman told him to get to that price, substitutions and value-engineered design changes would have to take place. For example, select cherry was no longer being used. Sequenced grain match to the doors and drawer fronts wouldn't be done either. He agreed to those terms. We went to contract and drawings with specifications was prepared. He picked apart every facet of the details and disputed what he was getting. For example he insisted on select, sequenced grain and the stain & glaze finish to the back side of the doors to be equal to the face.
Again, the salesman brought up his budget. If he wanted select and matching grain the price would be different and he would have to sign a change order. He declined and we proceeded to fabricate.
The job had delays in the flooring. He rejected the materials and installation and the floor contractor had to do the floor again.

We delivered and installed. I inspected the work and it was excellent. It was the kind of project someone would put into their portfolio. The complaints started. Mis-matched grain, stain color unacceptable, cabinets not installed level, seams on the crown moulding were visible. The list was several pages. I hadn't been on the project in a week... it was beautiful, what could have gone wrong?

The installer said "Man, you won't believe what they did with blue tape"

Normally, clients and contractors use small pieces of blue tape to make a few spots that needed touchup or in a bad case a damaged door that needed to be replaced. It's expected to see 3, 4 maybe 5 pieces of tape.

I walked in and a 'blue tape blizzard' of easily 50 spots marked unacceptable.

The client backed up his story with a letter from his attorney and a statement from the General Contractor that it was the worst job he has ever seen. Remove all the doors and mouldings and replace them or he would sue. We did and he rejected them again. He had a meeting with his attorney and the owner of the company I was working for.

They agreed the client would pay the difference from regular cherry doors to select grade and we went a third round of door replacements. Weeks had passed and the clock was running out as the client had a deadline to move in or we faced paying his rent on the apartment we was staying at during the construction.

They never asked for my opinion, I was told order the select doors. I did and again he rejected half of the doors. I stopped and told the owner 'This guy is out for blood. There is nothing we can do to satisfy him' and we should have given him his money back after he rejected the 2nd round of replacements.

It went to court. Despite our multiple attempts to make this right, to my surprise, the judge sided in with the client. They settled for giving him nearly all of his money back.

All that time wasted trying to appease the client was stealing valuable materials and factory time we could have been working on profitable jobs.


This week, I dropped off samples to the same design firm I did that project with.
The office manager remembered me and the company I was working for at the time.
We agreed the client was an a-hole and the design firm actually did another project with him.
No different, the manager said. I'm told he rejected more than half of the work in his house and ended up suing many of the sub-contractors.

The new trend for aging musicians appears to be selling their music catalogs. I first heard about this when Bob Dylan sold his entire record catalog for an estimated $300 million. Many others have followed and today, I see Bruce Springsteen clocks in at an estimated $500 million.
Amazing...

Tag. } ...what a weekend !?!
...Joe Rotunda turned 80 ..[ . cricket
S B F / FTX ...{ .. cricket R & D..
...and ..you may not yet know this
Another "crypto". [ .tether
Is about to Eclipse the FTX donkey Laundromat.
..90 billion dollars L O $ T in the Ukraine...[ .tekcric
$ H I F T . L O C K....CRICK ET.

THIS IS LUNCH MONEY COMPARED TO THE
V | O5 .. TRILLION $$$$$ ..LOST IN GAFMANISTAN !

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PFZIER @ $PEED....
..just for um, argument...what if the FTX free style group sex Clusterfuchme Laundromat was a
Orange man production !?!?...with Orange friends making various promo spots all over the flatline globe ? ...)..can yo you say...Con Job ? ...can you think.non stop media UN cricket Pfizer blitzkrieg ?

One more time. ).$HIFT. LOCK..
PREZ. JOE IS THE EXACT SPECIMEN THE PFIZER FUCH MEDIA INCESSANTLY CLAIMED TRUMP WAS..
.. FOREIGN COLLUSION DELUSION $EGUEING INTO
WW 3. ENJOY.

Part of my business is remodeling old cabinets to look like new cabinets. It's the part I wish I didn't have to do. The process requires removing old doors and hinges, re-laminating the face and edges with new material (that's where the name relam comes from) and installing new doors.
For years, I've seen reviews in the newspaper home section that you can do a kitchen relam for a fraction of the price for new cabinets. Very deceiving as the estimates I've been working with are nearly 80% of the cost of new cabinets. I suppose it's a fraction, but not the fraction people are expecting.

This type of work is very labor intensive for the installer, lots of detail for the salesman who is usually the person taking measurements of the existing doors and ordering all new ones.
Door size, hand of swing, location of hinge holes. All these details are critical.

Usually the main reason for doing a relam is to keep the existing countertop and backsplash. If I can get around it I'll sell new upper cabinets and only relam the base cabinets. That make for less work on the installer and less custom parts to order.

Last week I saw a client to measure for a relam. He wanted to know a 'ball park' price for the work. I counted doors, panels & miscellaneous parts and guesstimated a range of $18,000 to $20,000. He queried me and I said, approximate, don't hold me to it until I actually work out the materials and labor.
He came in yesterday and I was at $19,000 with a basic 'shaker style' door and he selected a raised panel door bringing the price to $21,000. He will make a decision over the weekend. Actually, there is a third option... have a finisher come and paint the entire kitchen. While that's out of my scope, I'd be okay if he goes though way.

Some of my clients ask why I dislike doing relams and my response is like asking your dentist to crown and cap a mouth full of rotten teeth. Are you sure you want a relam?

For a few reasons, I left a job at the end of February 2020 I had been working there for nine years. Short retirement, I was to start another the following Monday in March. Pandemic hit and we all took extended vacations. Coming back, lots of potential leads had drifted away and sales were below monthly quotas. Not ready to be retired, I gave it another shot and another shot but I wasn't happy there doing bathroom renovations.

The owner tried to convince me to stay... several times actually, but I wanted to be elsewhere. I promised to finish my projects and not leave him hanging (as 2 of his last designers/salesmen did) and to stay until he found and trained a replacement.

The new guy wasn't fitting well and his top salesman was scheduled for back surgery. COVID-19 came through the office on three occasions knocking out 6 of the 8 people working there. Thankfully, I was spared but my exodus was delayed a few times.
Every week, I checked a placement site for positions available in any related field. Some came up and I interviewed with a few companies, but nothing materialized.

I teamed up with a coworker and surprisingly, our success at closing jobs improved. My plan to leave hadn't changed and at some point I needed to refuse any new projects.
Currently, I'm finishing 1, starting 3 and have a large renovation in July.
All the detail drawings are done, materials have been ordered and I'll have to appear on a few jobsite meetings over the course of 2 months. Hopefully, nothing more.

The owner is going away for a few days this Easter weekend so today I turned in commission reports and got a check. He knows where I stand to project manage the last group of jobs and said it was great having me work there... even if it wasn't profitable for either of us. The part that impressed him was my calm demeanor and high standard of professionalism. I handled everything they could throw at me.


I didn't 'burn a bridge' and know if I ever wanted to try there again, the opportunity is always available. Not 100% finished, I have to go back tomorrow collecting some furniture a computer station and have a short meeting with the field manager to pass needed information for the difficult projects.

A year out of my life and I learned many different things about that facet of manufacturing and supply. The goodbyes included thanks from both sides... as expected I'm carrying one less key tonight...

Tag.} A word in season on method { & syntax.
....aka the message of tongues w/ interpretation...
Grk....................... Digit..............hebrew to raw English..... | ...2. the extent or scope of the Op.

Hagiazo.................037.....father of dew.........................................range of the operation........}
Agonia...................074......."....of Light.........
..athemitos............111..fierce.......... ) ..strong . Radio... astronomy....
Bad conversation...148..chief Astrologer..
..simple....................185...desire.....
Of Alexandria..........222. .Uriel..[ flame of El.
.....the line score....................... physics + sunlight + number = a scribe picture
......f a s t.[ ing.........777..artsa / earthy....} . welcome to the plane [t*... everyone is here..- switch foot.
* The planet is a function of the plane..is a subset of the plan is the action of the pla..
...is the method of our LP..) long play...
...1969 Billboard ram.} Radio active math.)..
43. Good morning starshine ) the earth says hello..} Oliver
..o5. everyday people / sly & family stone.
38..only the S T R O N G survive / Butler...... | ...Greek again...o1. ALPHA./ A...} The ~ game.
......e n c o r e ...1 9 6 9.......................................66..wild........67..horse-tamer ) cowboy..
63. Time is tight./ Booker T & M G................68. .a. R.......a......n....g.....e.....4 .cattle....} .m o o....
..24. bad Moon rising./ CCR...} Hope you got your things together..
39. Time of the season / Z O M B I E S..
.... addenda.....} The information needs Identifier should study, plan & equip himself thoroughly to
Perform the task of identifying [ correct ] information. It is to be noted that the methodology will
.become clearer and clearer as each step is put into practice enhancing the understanding of the
Scenario..and in fine tuning procedure...- paper presented to Congress of Librarians.

I've always been a procrastinator. World class at that. I remember having school assignments with specific due dates and the night before, I would stay up late, often crashing but setting the clock for 4am and finishing the assignment with only a few minutes to shower and get to school. It amazed me (and my family) when I would get a really good grade for the work turned in.

Yesterday, was 2-22-2022 and I had a busy day planned. I read in a few places that it would be a good day for many.
Eye exam at 10:00 as one in the late afternoon (after 6 hours of computer work) failed.
My eyes couldn't focus then, but the exam in the morning was successful.
11:30 I met with a contractor to recheck a microwave/steam oven dimension that was in storage for a kitchen remodel I released to production.
Driving 30 miles for a 1:30 appointment, the client already tore out walls, kitchen and flooring. He was literally ready for cabinets. When I asked why he didn't call sooner, his response was the guy before me only gave him a 'chicken scratch' drawing of what he planned for the new layout. He's obviously not getting the job.
2:30 another appointment on the way back to the office to measure a wall unit. The client liked my suggestions along with photos of previous projects I completed.
4:00 meeting on the east side of Boca Raton and I walked in to a 7 million dollar home where a designer painted a dark wood kitchen all white. The client threw him off the job as he didn't sand and prep the old cabinet doors, failed to use a primer and instead of removing each door, he spray painted them in place! You could run a fingernail over the door and the paint will chip off! The client decided to have the entire kitchen replaced so we went over a new layout that I'll present to them in showroom.
6:00 back to the office to make notes for the appointments (while the details are still in my head) and head home at 7:30.

8:00 and my phone is nagging me Google has some new features that old phone didn't know about. Sheesh...

2-23-2022, enjoy your day.

Some of you may remember when Trump overstayed his residency at Mar-a-Lago and was forced to seek housing elsewhere.
Realtors were quick to get him a place next to Mar-a-Lago.
He's moved around since then and recently that house went up for sale.
It's listed at $59 million, which is $10 million more than the listing a year ago.
Quite a price jump.

Location, location, location...

In the business world, if you want to know what the competition is doing, you can resort to some low level espionage by sending a person to go around to your competitors pretending to be a real customer.
They can check out their office, showroom, factory and see how their sales staff operate, get prices and find out what negotiations they are able to make to get the best price.

The person elected to do the job could be family or a friend, most importantly that person must be savvy to the business and know the differences what the competition is pricing.

That person is called a Mole.

A place I worked at a few years ago had lots of local competition and the boss was lucky enough to have communication with one person he lost a sale to. That helped him refine his sales pitch by educating prospective clients BEFORE they went shopping elsewhere and to be suspicious of 'low ball' bids. Some companies call that 'comparing apples to apples' in that, price means little if the lower bid isn't equal to the other bids.

The lost sale customer went back to tell my boss he was sorry for making a bad decision. He signed with the other company mostly on price and confidence it was their best deal. After paying a deposit and seeing the drawings, many of the items were left out. Adding all what my boss included, the other company considered them as upgrades, brought the price higher than the bid my boss gave.

I had a situation with a possible client last week. He recently bought a home near the Intracoastal Waterway, complete with a dock and it wouldn't surprise me if he's investing $300,000 in the renovation. He and his wife came to my showroom to see samples and discuss their wants. They loved the tour of the factory. Although, they knew what they wanted, they had been to see 2 other local suppliers and had prices. One had a shop but (for some reason) wasn't happy with them. The other had a retail showroom, but no factory. Since that company is in an upscale neighborhood, I expected their price to be around the same as mine.

The client did mention good quality at a good price. I represented the sale would be what he was asking for.

Expecting to be able to submit prices on Monday, I found time to meet with my estimator and was able to submit a proposal Friday.
The guy replied on Saturday to tell me I was the highest bid and he was going with another company. I asked how much and he said $38,000 to my $44,500.
Repeating our track record and quality would be a waste of time. Price was the attachment for him.

Thanking him for the comeback. Yes, it was a loss, but I consider it a reverse mole where he told me something important about another vendor.
We recently changed our logo and added 'Luxury Cabinetry' to it.
Hopefully, it will make a difference with my cost conscience clients.